Open-source nonprofit · Frisco, TX

Mobility aids built
for the real world.

Most crutches are designed for hospital hallways. We build terrain-adaptive aids for the mud, sand, and unpaved roads where people actually live.

See Our Solution Support the Mission
2.5B+Need assistive products
69%Fall annually from terrain
15%Access rate in sub-Saharan Africa
Rural terrain

This is not a supply chain problem. It is a design problem.

For people with spinal cord injuries, a fall on uneven terrain can cause permanent, irreversible damage. Standard crutches were never designed to prevent this. We designed one that does.

Open-source design files · Printable anywhere · Terrain-adaptive · Gait asymmetry detection · Training camps in rural India · Android companion app · Global Rural Mobility Dataset · No supply chain needed · Open-source design files · Printable anywhere · Terrain-adaptive · Gait asymmetry detection · Training camps in rural India · Android companion app · Global Rural Mobility Dataset · No supply chain needed ·
The Problem

A design failure,
not a funding failure.

Across rural India, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, most people with mobility impairments walk on mud, sand, and rocky unpaved roads every single day. The crutches and mobility aids they depend on were designed for flat hospital hallways. They were never tested on the surfaces where most patients actually live.

The results are predictable. Falls are frequent. Secondary injuries are common. And many patients quietly stop using their aids altogether, becoming fully bed-ridden not because they have to, but because the device failed them. For people with incomplete spinal cord injuries, one bad fall can mean permanent paralysis.

This is not a resource problem. Devices exist. Funding exists. The gap is design. No one has built a crutch for the terrain most patients actually face. Until now.

2.5B+

People globally need at least one assistive product

15 to 25%

Access rate for assistive products in sub-Saharan Africa

69%

Of wheelchair users experience falls annually due to terrain

<5%

Of people who need wheelchairs actually receive them

Rural path
Rural Africa, uneven terrain
Community health
Community care
Medical technology
Accessible technology
Future sites

Real terrain. Real problems.

Click any region on the globe to see exact terrain conditions and how our device addresses them.

Legend
Active pilot region
Moderate terrain challenge
Severe terrain challenge
Drag to rotate · Click a marker to explore
Seven regions. One solution.

Our pilot zones span rural India and East Africa, targeting communities where terrain-related falls are most frequent and mobility aid access is lowest.

Severe terrain challenge
Moderate terrain challenge
Active pilot region
Terrain types
Challenges
    Our response

    Back to overview
    Our Solution

    Two tiers.
    One mission.

    A modular foot attachment that replaces the rubber tip on any crutch. The passive version needs no power and no maintenance. The smart layer adds real-time fall detection and automatic correction.

    Tier 1 · Passive

    The Adaptive Foot

    • Three flexible lobes adapt to any surface automatically
    • No electronics, no batteries, no maintenance
    • Printable on any consumer 3D printer
    • Wire replaceable with fishing line or paracord
    • Three terrain variants: standard, sand, emergency
    • Free open-source design files
    Tier 2 · Active

    Smart Layer

    • Pressure sensors measure force under each lobe
    • Motion sensor detects tilt and balance in real time
    • Micro motor pre-positions foot before a slip
    • Vibration alert warns the user 200 to 400ms early
    • Android companion app, fully offline

    Detects uneven walking patterns in real time

    No crutch on the market does this today
    Product range

    Our devices.

    Current products and early-stage future concepts. Drag to rotate, scroll to zoom.

    Devices
    Selected
    Tier 1

    Replaces the rubber ferrule on any forearm crutch. Three TPU lobes passively adapt to uneven terrain via a tensioned wire hub.

    Forearm crutch - Tier 1 passive foot
    Drag to rotate · scroll to zoom
    Tier 1
    Replaces the rubber ferrule on any forearm crutch. Three TPU lobes passively adapt to uneven terrain via a tensioned wire hub. No electronics needed.

    The prosthetic adapter and terrain ankle are early-stage concepts only. These visualizations are basic representations of design intent, not final products. We are sharing them to illustrate the long-term vision for where this platform can go.

    Distribution

    We don't just ship devices.
    We train people.

    Our model does not depend on a supply chain. It depends on knowledge. Once someone is trained, they can serve their community indefinitely.

    Community health workers in the field
    Training local operators to serve their region independently
    01

    Two-day training camp

    We run two-day camps in rural communities where local health workers and repair shop operators learn to print, fit, and maintain the devices themselves.

    02

    Local production

    Certified operators use the free design files and a simple starter kit to produce and distribute devices within their own community. No supply chain, no middlemen.

    03

    Lasting impact

    Each operator continues serving their region long after the camp ends. The network grows with every new camp, and the cost per patient falls each year as the system scales.

    Our goals
    2Training camps in Year 1
    50Patients served in Year 1
    600+Patients by Year 3
    200+Certified operators
    The Long-Term Asset

    A dataset that
    could change everything.

    Every Tier 2 device we deploy would collect terrain and gait data from rural patients who are entirely absent from global research. Our plan is to publish it annually, free to researchers everywhere, and eventually license it to pharmaceutical and medical device companies to help fund the mission.

    Annual public release

    Free to researchers globally under Creative Commons Attribution

    Commercial licensing

    Potential recurring revenue from pharma and medtech partners

    IRB pathway

    Academic co-investigator partnership for ethics review, currently in planning

    Research publication

    Planned annual data descriptor paper for academic credibility

    The team

    Who we are.

    Two high school students from Frisco, Texas, building mobility aids for the communities most overlooked by medical device design.

    Aarav Kopparam
    Co-founder
    Aarav Kopparam

    Rithvik leads the sensor stack, software, and data strategy at Common Ground Mobility. He designed the Tier 2 adaptive algorithm architecture, the Android companion app concept, and the Global Rural Mobility Dataset framework. His focus is on building the long-term data asset that makes Common Ground Mobility more than a hardware project, a research platform that generates irreplaceable real-world gait data from populations absent from global literature.

    Embedded systems TinyML Data strategy Frisco, TX
    Rithvik Puppala
    Co-founder
    Rithvik Puppala

    Aarav leads the hardware and mechanical design work at Common Ground Mobility. He developed the tri-lobe wire tension system and oversees the FreeCAD design files, print profiles, and terrain variant testing. His interest in low-cost assistive technology grew from research into mobility aid abandonment rates in South Asia and the gap between what devices can do and what patients actually need on unpaved terrain.

    Hardware design 3D printing Mechanical systems Frisco, TX

    We are high school students. We do not have clinical partners or a prototype yet. What we have is a rigorous design, a clear problem, and the commitment to see it through. We are seeking mentors, advisors, and collaborators who believe this should exist.

    Contact

    Let's talk.

    Clinician, funder, partner, or maker. We want to hear from you.

    Aarav Kopparam & Rithvik Puppala
    commongroundmobility@gmail.com
    469-452-0352
    Frisco, TX 75035

    We are actively seeking.

    Three specific conversations we are trying to have right now.

    A clinical advisor with LMIC experience
    An NGO partner for our rural India pilot
    A global health funder or SCI foundation connection